Centrifuge modelling and the energy transition – ‘same old same old’ or a new horizon?

Professor Phil Watson

The use of geotechnical centrifuge modelling to improve our understanding of real-world behaviour and complement design activity is not new. For example, the latest McClelland Lecture (by Ed Clukey) included a number of excellent case studies, ranging from foundation capacity to soil-structure interaction problems. With world attention on renewable energy, including offshore applications, this lecture will explore the role of physical modelling in aiding the energy transition. Are there new challenges, and what can we learn from the past? Are new modelling techniques needed, and are we up for the challenge? And what about renewable projects in ‘new’ regions and soil types?

About the speaker

Professor Phil Watson

Phil Watson is the Shell Professor of Offshore Engineering and Director of the ARC Industrial Transformation Research Hub on Transforming offshore Infrastructure through Digital Engineering (TIDE) at the University of Western Australia. He is a Fellow of The Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering and the Institution of Engineers Australia, and the current Chair of ISSMGE Technical Committee 209 ‘Offshore Geotechnics’. Phil is passionate about aligning industry and academia to solve challenges facing the offshore sector – and training tomorrow’s generation of geotechnical leaders.

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